From a variety of sources:

All-purpose cleaner: Combine 1/2 cup of ammonia, 1/2 cup vinegar and 1/4 cup of baking soda in a gallon of water.

All-purpose cleaner: In one quart warm water, mix one teaspoon each of liquid soap, boric acid (Borax), lemom juice and/or vinegar.

All-purpose cleaner: Mix 1/2 cup of ammonia, 1/3 cup of vinegar, two tablespoons of baking soda and a gallon of water.

Disinfectant: Mix 1/2 cup of borax in one gallon of water.

Disinfectant spray: In a spray bottle, mix 1/2 cup of chlorine bleach with 3 1/2 cups of water.

Stain remover: Mix one cup Clorox 2 Color Safe Bleach, one cap Cascade dishwasher power and a few gallons of HOT water in a 5-gallon bucket. Be sure bleach and Cascade are dissolved.

Tile cleaner: Mix 1/4 cup vinegar with one gallon of water. Keep in the shower and spray tiles lightly while still damp is one use.

Furniture polish: Mix one part lemon juice to two parts vegetable or olive oil.

Abrasive cleaner: Dip lemon half in borax. Scrub surface. Rinse well.

Window screens: Run dry nylon scrubbies over the screens to knock off dirt.

Glass and window cleaner: Put club sode in a spray bottle or mix 1/2 cup of vinegar and 1/2 cup of water in a spray bottle.

Window cleaner: Mix 1/4 cup ammonia and one quart of water.

Pretreating stains: Mix equal parts of ammonia, liquid dishwater detergent and water. Put in an empty dishwashing liquid bottle. Shake well and use.

Mildew removal: Mix equal parts of bleach and water. Spray on mildew. When stains are gone, rinse really well.

Showerhead cleaner: Pour one cup of vinegar in a plastic bag, secure bag to shower head. Let stand overnight. Rinse.

Wall cleaner: Mix one gallon of hot water with 1/2 cup of borox.

Toilet bowl cleaner: Sprinkle baking soda in the bowl, drizzle or spray with vinegar and then scrub.

Toilet bowl cleaner. Put on liquid dishwasing liquid and scrub.

Toilet bowl cleaner. Pour used denture solution in toilet. Use brush to coat sides. Let sit.

Shower curtain: Wash in washing machine with towels, detergent and one cup of white vinegar mixed in with the water. Remove before the final spin and rehang.

Fix scratches: Use a walnut hull and rub hull on scratch. You can also use walnut hulls on baskets to stain them to give them an old look.

Brass polish: Paint tomato ketchup on your brass and copper lamps and other items. Let set for several hours. Remove with hot soapy water.

Shop grease cleaner: Mix dishwasher liquid, vinegar and corn meal into a paste.

Room deodorizer: To rid rooms of stale tobacco smoke mix a little diluted ammonia with a bowl of fresh water and let the bowl stay overnight in the room. Can be used in closets also.

Carpet deodorizer: Mix in a container with tight-fitting lid two cups of baking soda, a half-cup corn-starch, five crumbled bay leaves and one tablespoon of ground cloves. Shake container well, sprinkle liberally over carpet and vacuum fully.

Soap scum on tile: Coat the entire surface lightly with undiluted liquid detergent and allow to dry overnight. Wet the surface and scrub with a stiff brush and scouring powder. Rinse and buff with a bath towel.

Finger marks and soil spots on wallpaper: Rub with soft chunks of white bread.

Pleated lampshades: Clean with a baby's hairbrush.

Add your own homemade cleaners to this list.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), November 25, 2000

Answers

Vinegar/water for just about everything. It's expecially good on soap scum. Spray it on, wait a couple minutes, and scrub with a non- abrasive scouring pad.

Salt to clean the oven, haven't done it yet, but I understand it works well.

-- Cindy (atilrthehony_1@yahoo.com), November 25, 2000.

Thanks. A printout of this thread is going inside my kitchen cabinet.

-- Jay Blair (jayblair678@yahoo.com), November 25, 2000.

Cindy, Table salt and water with a couple of ice cups init, swirled around in the coffepot or tea pitcher or thermal bottle will clean stains. Learned this while working at a fast food joint in college.

-- Jay Blair (jayblair678@yahoo.com), November 25, 2000.

Make a salt paste-salt and just a little bit of water-spread over dirty oven, let it sit over night, then you're supposed to be able to wipe it clean. Hope it works, I sure can't use chemical cleaners, (I used to do that when I cleaned apartments after people moved out) and the oven is in need.

-- Cindy (atilrthehony_1@yahoo.com), November 25, 2000.

For the oven, just use baking soda on a wet rag with a little "elbow grease". A lot of the times just a wet rag will do. My male navy friend taught me to clean the oven after every use and not let it accumulate.

Make your own "scrubbie" with a plastic onion bag (or equivalent) with the metal ends cut off and joined with a rubberband.

-- Sandy (smd2@netzero.net), November 25, 2000.

to get rid of a musty smell place charcol{sp} the kind you cook w/ in a pantyhose and hang,works great in rootcellars.

-- renee oneill{md.} (oneillsr@home.com), November 25, 2000.

I filched this from the Athome site. Paradox mom is responsible for this wonderful recipe. I have tried it and I like it very much and it is well worth the effort.

Laura

Laundry Soap

1 bar heavy duty laundry soap (found in the laundry aisle)--I use Fels Naptha 1 cup washing soda (NOT baking soda--Arm and Hammer makes a product called "Super Washing Soda" that works for this--one box will make approximately 7 batches of laundry soap.) Grate the bar of soap into a sauce pan. Add enough cold water to fully cover the soap. Allow to sit for several hours to overnight.

When ready to make soap, fill a 5 gallon bucket with enough warm water to fill it to within a few inches from the top. I just set it in the tub or laundry sink to do this.

In the kitchen, turn the burner on med-high heat below the soap and water. Cook, stirring with a wisk continously until soap is melted. When soap is melted, pour the hot soap into the bucket then add washing soda. Stir well. I use one of those long paint stirring drill attachments that my husband bought for just a few dollars at a hardware store.

Allow the mixture to sit for several hours as it cools. When cool, stir again well. I use about 1 1/2 cups of this soap per large load.

The stirring tool is well worth the investment. I used to use my entire arm to stir this around. If you get a stirrer, keep it dedicated to laundry soap making to avoid having to clean it up after other, messier uses.

Other people have modified the recipe and added other ingredients depending on the results they've gotten, hard water, allergies, etc.

You can use less water and get a more concentrated version with as little as 2 gallons of total volume. It's much thicker so you might not want to put it into a bottle with a small spout--rather, use a plastic container with a lid.

You can use plain unscented soap if you'd like. If you have someone with sensitive skin, try using their brand of bar soap instead of the laundry bar soap.

You can add other ingredients to amend the basic recipe. I'd suggest trying it as it is first unless you know you'll have other problems like hard water. You might want to make a small batch first, half or divide the recipe into quarters and add other ingredients until you find results you like.

Additions that people have found helpful are: Borax (for more cleaning power) Clorox color-safe bleach Calgon Some people subsitute Kirk's Castile Soap or add Kirk's Castile to their recipe to help combat hard water

I'd suggest adding about 1 cup of the additional ingredient for starters, adding it at the same time as you add the washing soda.

-- Laura (LauraLeekis@home.com), November 26, 2000.

renee, you wrote: "to get rid of a musty smell place charcol{sp} the kind you cook w/ in a pantyhose and hang,works great in rootcellars."

Well, I did this. Took the woman I cook with, put charcoal in her pantyhose and hung her in the root cellar. I have a further question. How long will she yell before quieting down?

-- JLS in NW AZ (stalkingbull007@AOL.com), November 26, 2000.

For copper bottom pans, sprinkle salt on tarnish, pour on a little vinegar and scrub.

-- Diane Green (gardiacaprines@yahoo.com), November 26, 2000.

Good List. Over at http://www.about.com they have threads that list all uses for vinegar and one for baking soda. It is a long list. But worth reading.

We use a lot of what Ken posted. For major cleaning like bugs on the hood we use "bug zapper" a solution invented by our neighbor. Spray on hood wipe bugs off with dry cloth. I saw a bottle of "Fast Freddy" here in NC that stuff is great. Diluted )1oz to gallon water) makes a terrific window cleaner. Stronger mixtures makes anything from vinyl cleaner to Chicken house floor cleaner.

-- Kenneth in N.C. (wizardsplace13@hotmail.com), November 30, 2000.

Disenfectant: Fill one spray bottle with hydrogen peroxide and another with vinegar. Spray one on the surface that you want to disenfect and then the other. Rinse. This powerful duo will actually kill more germs and bacteria than straight bleach! It is also safe for you, your kids, and your pets. It doesn't come any better or easier than this folks! (DON'T mix in the same bottle. It doesn't matter which you spray first, it the actual chemical reaction when the two meet that kills the germs.)

-- Tracy Cole (tracycole@skybiz.com), August 20, 2001.